Making stuff and pootling in the garden

Homemade Christmas

Hello hello! Happy Tuesday-in-that-odd-bit-between-Christmas-and-New-Year. I hope you had wonderful Christmases and are ready for amazing 2015s.

I’d meant to post this in the run-up to Christmas but, of course, what with everything else, I got a bit sidetracked and it never managed to make it out of draft mode. Still, it’s not specifically about Christmas, just winter, I suppose, so hopefully still of some small interest in these last few breaths of December…

Scuse the graininess, there’s no blinking light at all up by the ceiling in the middle of winter…

Because my Mum lives 90 minutes away from us, whenever she looks after one of the boys for the day, she spends the night beforehand in our guest room.

The term “guest room” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s more like a “dump the junk that won’t fit anywhere else room,” stuffed full with car seats, concertinaed spare prams and teetering piles of craft supplies.

Ever since we renovated the house about a year ago (and then ran out of money before finishing the decorating, just like in every TV property show ever broadcast) it’s had some curtains tacked in place across the window, not able to open or close. It used to be the bathroom, before the big house reshuffle, and the window has been specifically designed to be permanently open a crack, an icy breeze filtering through at this time of year.

So my poor old Mum has spent many a night picking her way to a bed through a floor full of detritus, sleeping overlooked by stacks of boxes and, though mostly cosy under our warmest, thickest duvet, she has confessed to me that she sometimes puts a pillow over her head to try and keep her face warm from the draught.

As she spent Christmas with us this year she had five whole nights to enjoy the delights of our spare room. And, it being Christmas’n’all, I wanted to actually make it a pleasant experience for her.

The boxes and spare prams were banished to a desultory corner of our bedroom, the car seats stashed in her car on arrival and, most exciting of all, we actually put a curtain pole up, so the curtains could be opened in the morning, woohoo.

And then I thought, oh wouldn’t it be fun to make it like a proper white Christmas in there?

So, one evening, the hubby and I (well, mostly the hubby, really) made hundreds of snowflakes to hang from the ceiling.

Now she’s gone back home, I’ve brought them all down into the sitting room, where they sway endlessly in the breeze from the window and the heat from the radiator. What do you think? Quite festive, no?!

The one on the top right of this picture is my fave

I think the overall effect is actually quite classy.

Okay, maybe only a little bit classy and a lot kitschy.

I followed various different templates and patterns I found on Pinterest (obvs) — but mostly just hacked out little shapes from folded triangles of paper to see how they would end up. If you feel like brightening up your room in January, you can find all the patterns saved in my Pinterest board Homemade Christmas.

But, even better than this veritable paper wonderland for my poor old Mum, I also made a draught excluder from an old pair of pyjamas to lie across the gaping hole in the window. Otherwise, she may well have woken on Christmas day, a glacial breeze wafting across her face and — yet to put her glasses on — glanced up to the ceiling and thought she had woken to a genuine white Christmas.

So on that icy note, happy 2015 to you all! I hope you’ve got something lovely planned for New Year’s Eve. Me, I’ll be digging something out of the freezer to eat, scoffing the odd mouthful, inbetween the wake up calls of my two never-great-sleeping children who have entered all manner of horrendous sleep regressions over the Christmas week, downing as much wine as I can manage when free to do so and possibly watching an episode of Modern Family before, most likely, flaking out on the sofa at about 10pm. I know, I know, I’ll stop now for fear of making whatever plans you’ve got seem completely anticlimactic in comparison.

It’s the one I remember most fondly from my childhood. Hundreds of cards jostling for space. An ever-growing nativity scene, ultimately boasting four baby Jesuses made out of clay, the child/sculptor’s name scrawled into the bottom and the constant pestering to my Mum to decide which of us had made the “best Jesus.” An advent calendar and advent candle hiding in there somewhere, the candle lit ceremoniously in the evening – though we’d frequently forget it for days on end, or leave it burning for longer than we should, so it rarely showed the right date.

Christmas is really all about creating traditions for kids, isn’t it? It’s something I look forward to with more excitement each year as the sproglets get older and more able to understand what’s going on.

Oh so hard to take photos in these dark days!

My mantelpiece now is nowhere near as full, riotous or jolly as those we used to have when I was little, but I’ve got a nod to some of the same elements.

On the right, perhaps my favourite Christmas decoration of all time: an angel candle holder. The angels spin round and round when the tea light is lit… I’ve had it for four years now, but it was only when examining in closely with the sprog, that I realised each angel is carrying a different offering.

I could watch these spin round for hours…

The beautiful poppy illustration to the left is an RHS 2014 calendar that I discovered in the attic just last week… I must have put it away when we moved out last Autumn for the building work and then forgotten about it once we moved back in. It is absolutely stunning, so I’m pleased to be enjoying it for the last few weeks of the year, anyhow, ha ha.

All is not lost, however, as I plan to cut out some of the illustrations and frame them, so they can have a more permanent position in the room.

This is a poppy illustration in festive Christmas colours…

Of course, we don’t only have one Christmas card, the rest are on the bookshelves in the alcoves surrounding the mantelpiece. But I am quite fond of this little polar bear in his woolly hat…

It must get cold in the Arctic. I’d want a woolly hat too…

On the far left, a fabulously kitsch Mary, Joseph and Jesus, nestle next to an offcut of our Christmas tree and some pinecones. The little nativity trio were sent to me by one of my oldest friends a few Christmases ago when we were out in Hong Kong, as part of a fabulous Christmas bundle to bring a bit of the classic British Chrimbo to our little patch in China. (Also included, The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, a CD of Christmas songs and some Christmas tree hairclips.) It might well be the favourite parcel I’ve ever received.

Shiny shiny

In a slight aside, I’ve been pondering a lot this year how to explain the whole Christmas thing to the sproglet. I was raised (very loosely) CofE, but am not religious at all anymore.

(For anyone interested, the nutshell version of what I believe is that this short life we have here on Earth is all there is, so let’s all be nice to each other and try and make it as enjoyable and as much fun as we can. )

I’m not quite sure, though, what line to take with the sproglet when explaining various (mainly Christian) religious things. Obviously, we are actually celebrating Christmas, so do I just give him the story of Jesus, or do I preface everything with “some people believe that…”?

It seems like there’s quite a fine line to tread in there somewhere, explaining about all religious festivals, but why we only celebrate certain ones of them if we’re not, ourselves, actually of that religion. And why other people, such as friends or relatives, believe things different to what we (or rather I) do.

Anyway, he’s only two still, so perhaps I can worry about all that another year.

On a much lighter note, the ginkgo garland below is still hanging since last month (missing on a central leaf). I had planned to take it down and replace it with something more Christmassy, but I just love it so much, it’s stayed up there. I’ll leave it til Christmas Eve and then put some stockings up.

The fireplace remains unlit, again something for Christmas Eve, I think. Meanwhile, the wicker basket is full of blankets, for snuggling up under in these dark cold nights.

Candlelight, blankets and kitsch ornaments: I need nothing more from Christmas!

I’ve been showing you my mantelpiece each month since September, but have decided not to carry on in 2015. I’ve become aware that there are lots (and lots and lots!) of other bloggers out there showing beautifully styled, beautifully photographed vignettes from around their houses. Now, I’m not a stylist, nor an especially proficient photographer (see my struggle to get these images in gloomy winter weather) so I started to think I’m not really adding anything especially interesting to the mix…

I’m planning on sticking a bit more to what I’m good at: crafting, gardening and a lot of wittering, ha ha.

I’ll be popping back in tomorrow (Christmas preps all going well, at any rate) to show you a little crafty / papery project I made for my guest room and then it’s off to the mulled wine and mince pies and duck that we’ve got planned. Hope you’re all settling down to enjoy festivities…

I have to confess to suffering a little from blogger’s fatigue around Christmas time.

Scrolling through my feed on Bloglovin is a bit of a groundhog day experience. It starts sometime in November. Ah, a homemade advent calendar, another homemade advent calendar, oooh, that’s interesting, a homemade advent calendar.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everyone isn’t making lovely homemade wotnots (nor that I’m not joining in myself, I too have shared most of these ideas/tutorials) it’s just that it ends up a little… …samey.

Anyway, all of this is perhaps the oddest intro in the world to say: hey, look at my homemade wrapping paper!

This reindeer is my fave of the three

If you’re not bored stiff with people telling you how they’ve gone about Christmas this year, then I’ve got my latest contribution to add to the pile: home printed wrapping paper.

I tried out the idea of printing my own paper a while ago, and was pretty pleased with the results, with the (rather large) caveat that it only works if you’re wrapping something small that fits inside A4 paper.

Perhaps I should have added a ribbon or something here…

This Christmas I’ve added a few more designs, one with a rather wonderful reindeer, one with a little Christmas tree of birds and one with some penguins.

Christmas tree birds……and the close up

The file is attached here, with all three designs, if you like them and fancy using them yourselves:

Well, I might not have got round to actually buying any Christmas presents yet, but, let me tell you, I am all over my plans for wrapping them up…

I’m on an eco bent this year once again, and intend to make all my wrapping paper this weekend (more on that next week, assuming it actually looks nice enough to photograph). Meanwhile, I’ve been building up a collection of really beautiful free downloadable gift tags for a few years now and though that – hey, with the Christmas spirit of sharing’n’all – you might like to see them as well.

Of course, if you just print these on normal printer paper, it’s not much more environmentally friendly than just buying gift tags (though still cheaper, which is always a bonus round this time of year). But if you use some of the endless (endless!) pieces of paper that come into the house and normally go straight out to recycling, this is not only a great money-saving idea, but a good ol’ planet saving (well, tree saving) idea too.

I’m cutting up the estate agent letters (no, thanks, I don’t want a free valuation on my home), the weekly special offers from Virgin Media, even the blank bits on the side of our veg box contents list and turning the scrap pieces of paper and card into my gift tags.

But, without further ado, here are the lovely tags themselves:

1. Graphics Fairy vintage images

Lovely Graphics Fairy tags

From the Graphics Fairy, these fabulous vintage image tags. Of course I love these, I even used some of the same images for my advent calendar last year. The Graphics Fairy site has hundreds (probably thousands) of amazing vintage Christmas images, but these tags use some of the nicest…

2. Decorator’s Notebook flora and fauna

Grouse, deer, the full range!

Last year’s gift tag from Decorator’s Notebook combined vintage with flora and fauna… Be still my beating heart! Not only are these utterly beautiful but the subjects are oh-so-very up my street right now as I am completely fixated with old horticultural drawings.

3. Fellow Fellow’s acorns and leaves

4. We Lived Happily Ever After’s hand drawn tags

Beautiful hand drawn vibes

I love the simplicity of these tags, which look stunning printed on brown craft paper. I’m hoping to make lots of my wrapping paper out of brown recycled (Amazon packaging) paper, so these would work a treat alongside…

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that my sister set up her own Letterpress card business a year or so ago.

She’s super talented (and I don’t say that just because I’m her big sister) and her wedding invitations and cards are always beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that one of her Christmas cards was just featured in Elle Deco magazine. She’s going places that one…

Anyway, it got me thinking how nice it is to receive (and send) really special, unique, original, handmade cards. So I’ve done a little research and come up with five of my favourite Letterpress Christmas cards, and here they are, my lovely readers, just for you.

I’m a big fan of supporting independent makers, so this year I’m doing my best to avoid Amazon and to shop, instead with the likes of Etsy, Folksy, Not on the High Street, et al. And the cards are the perfect place to start, no?!

1. Penguins by Wolf & Ink

Wolf & Ink penguin card

Of course, sis must have number one spot. She’s got a great selection of cards (and wedding invitations if you’re getting hitched and feeling classy!), but this amazing penguin tree is my personal favourite.

4. Happy Holidays by Artcadia

It doesn’t get more jolly than red stockings and snowflakes. I’m a sucker for the red-and-white Christmas colour combo (brings out the green of the tree, y’know) so this is close to my ideal card for the mantelpiece.

5. Father Christmas by Rococo Rose

What’s that, you say? I’m ever predictable? Well, yes, I know, but I just can’t resist a good old vintage image at any time of year and at Christmas those old fashioned pictures just call to me even more strongly. This wonderful Father Christmas is from Rococo Rose made from a vintage engraving.

There’s something about Christmas that never fails to bring out my inner crafting obsessive.

Perhaps it’s memories of endless paper chains and papier mache bells and baubles as a child (the latter usually too heavy to actually be strung up anywhere in the house, for fear of head injuries if they pulled down the bit of string, or perhaps even the bit of plaster, to which they were attached…)

Whatever the reason, the minute I start thinking about Christmas, I start thinking about what I can make. Presents, food, wrapping paper, decorations… …someone stop me because I just want to make it all!

Sanity usually (usually!) prevails and I realise that – short of sending the kids down the mine for a few weeks to give myself a bit of peace and quiet – there’s no way I will find the time to make everything I would like to.

This year, rather than homemade presents, I think I’m going to focus on homemade decorations.

Here’s a round up of seven of my favourites from the wonderful world of the web (really, truth be told, the wonderful world of Pinterest…)

1. Snowflake garland

First of all, let’s revisit some childhood memories with a paper chain display. Not having an amazing clapboard porch, like this house in the Martha Stewart photo, I won’t need to make these snowflakes out of weatherproof paper as suggested, but some bog standard normal printer paper would do the trick, I’ll warrant, just as well.

I’ll also hang these horizontally, rather than vertically, and festoon them across my entire house I suspect…

2. Christmas village window display

Okay, this isn’t a tutorial at all, but a set of stickers you can buy from Cox and Cox. However, I don’t think it would take a genius to make these from scratch. (I have yet to actually *try* and make these from scratch, so I may be later eating my words…)

Some stiff cardboard, a knife and a pencil is surely enough to get the same effect? (Though, I do wonder about combatting condensation on the window. Hmmm. Perhaps a white plastic bag would work better?)

At any rate, I had to include these because I definitely intend to replicate this on my window this year in some form or other.

3. Fabric baubles

I made these last year and was really very delighted with them. Now packed in a box somewhere, exact location unknown, I think I’d better whip up a few more before December strikes. Find more info on last year’s post: Liberty fabric baubles.

4. Paper baubles

I printed off lots of vintage sheet music (from the Graphics Fairy, of course) and then cut it all into circles and assembled into lots of lovely, pretty baubles. (I’m now trying to wonder why on earth I didn’t photograph them at the time…)

However, by the end of the festivities, they had got pretty crumpled and dirty and didn’t look very nice at all. I chucked them all in the bin.

This year, when I make them again, I will print the images out onto card and hope that they last a little better. Yes, I love making stuff, but I love it even more if it can actually last a year or two…

5. Snow village

I’ve been eyeing up this adorable winter snow village from My Tiny Plot for three years now. This year will be the one I finally make it!

I love the houses, the lights shining out from the windows, the idea of adding to the village, slowly, year-by-year, a house at a time and – most of all – the knowledge that this couldn’t fail to be something remembered by the kids as a pretty cool Christmas tradition.

6. Snow globe

At Christmas, there is one thing that is absolutely essential. Yup, that’s the one, fake snow…

And this idea especially appeals to me. Fake snow inside a glass bauble with a teeny tiny tree. Ha! What’s not to love?

I was going to link you directly to the tutorial (from Allparenting.com), but the website has got a super annoying automatic pop-up showing some Marvel superheroes cartoon, which just took so long to load up it slowed down my entire laptop for about five minutes. Instead, here is the link to my Pin, and you can click through from there if you choose and have a few minutes to spare while you wait for the pop-up to appear and be closed again: DIY snow globe.

7. Cross-stitch crochet stocking

About once a week, I see something on Pinterest that makes me wish I could crochet. This is that project…

Okay, in order to make this I would not only have to learn how to crochet, but also develop considerably more patience in order to do the cross stitching nicely too (weirdly, I love to knit, but hate to hand sew) so the chances of this getting made, by me, this year, are really quite slim.

But then again; look at the glorious stocking! I would really, really like to have four of these hanging from my mantelpiece on December 24th. So perhaps I could give it a go…

If there’s a better present in the world than a hamper at Christmas, I’ve yet to come across it.

Oh, wait, I do know of a better one: a homemade hamper, stuffed to bursting with delicious goodies made over the previous 12 months. (Note to readers: please do feel free to read this as a hint, if you’ve been umming and ahhing about what to get me for Christmas, ha ha…)

This year, as you may have seen, I’ve been busy with a new series, Grow, forage, cook, with my lovely friend Laura (of Circle of Pine Trees). We’ve been sharing recipes, ideas and inspiration for homegrown, foraged and seasonal food.

So, for the middle of November, it seemed like a pretty good idea to put together a Christmas hamper using some of our favourite makes.

Well, marmalade is a staple for any hamper, in my opinion. Laura and I, both being bloggers, are naturally Seville Orange marmalade makers (yes, they actually make you sign a contract when you get a blog: you have to promise to make some marmalade and some elderflower cordial before you’re allowed to publish your first post…)

Then you’ll need something to eat with all those chutneys and jams. A few homemade biscuits is a good start. I’ve included some absolutely amazing ginger biscuits, following Laura’s recipe for ginger snaps.

These were unbelievably tasty, and I had a hard time keeping these six biscuits out of ravening maws for long enough to photograph them…

A little parcel of delicious bicciesA few seconds later, there was just a little pile of crumbs…

Now, I know what you’re going to say about my inclusion of pickled cabbage. Cabbage? For a present? For Christmas? My sole rejoinder: if you’re friends with someone who wouldn’t, secretly, love to consume a jar of pickled red cabbage on a winter’s evening, then you should probably stop being friends with them.

I haven’t actually posted a recipe for this on the blog (yet!) but I shall get on the case forthwith. ‘Til then, you can find plenty of different versions with a quick Google.

Sadly, my haul of damsons from my Dad’s garden was left in the footwell of a hot car, but had they survived I would definitely be adding a bottle of Laura’s amazing damson gin.

Food and drink complete, a few little festive touches to adorn the hamper. I’ve followed Laura’s tutorials for some pinecone firelighters and this lovely orange peel garland to adorn the wicker basket.

I dried these out in the oven and they smelt amazing…String this across the lid, or just along the front of the hamper for a suitably festive added extra…

Oh; a word on presentation. It is absolutely key in my opinion when giving homemade presents.

I spent a ridiculously long time once making some chocolate truffles, only to give them away in a Tupperware box. In fact, an old Indian takeaway box at that. I don’t think the recipient can have had any idea that I had lovingly concocted them over the course of a few days.

Homemade looks caring and loving if it’s dressed up prettily. Otherwise, it can just look a bit slapdash and unthinking. (“Oh, shucks, I forgot I was seeing so-and-so today and I haven’t got them a present. Let’s just bung them a jar of this year’s marmalade from the larder, still sticky on the sides and with a scrawl of identification on a peeling old label…”)

The labels I’ve used here are downloaded from the World Label website (free, fillable templates designed by Cathe Holden are available here: Apothecary labels). For the text, I’ve used a free font called Jane Austen. (Available from Da Font here: Jane Austen font.) And I’ve got to say, I’m pretty happy with the way it all looks!

Actually, I should have really covered all those mismatched lids with a nice circle of pretty fabric but, hey, hindsight is a wonderful thing…

So there you have it! A very first Grow, forage, cook Christmas hamper, full of delectable treats (in my humble opinion).

Will you be making any foodie presents this year? Is there anything I’ve missed out that really deserves a place in its wicker belly? Do leave me a comment and let me know: I’m always on the hunt for lovely new recipes and lovely new ideas!

And, finally, don’t forget to keep tagging your makes with #growforagecook on instagram and twitter. This month will be the last round-up we’re sharing until the Spring time, as Grow, forage, cook goes into hibernation for the winter months, so please do share anything before then! We’ve loved the little glimpse we’ve had so far into your winter / Christmas preparations…

So Halloween has been and gone, bonfire night is over, hmmm, I have a feeling something else is coming up? But just what is it? *Scratches head*

Ha ha, just kidding, of course. Christmas looms large on the horizon from about September, usually with the result that I feel super-Christmassy in November and completely over it by the middle of December. And yes, so it is once again, I am feeling all merry and bright right now.

So apologies to those who want to hold onto the festive cheer til December, but I thought I might just do a little round up for the more organised people who’d like to get started making Christmas bits and bobs in good time. (I am not a very organised person and therefore have a tendency to post things like advent calendar DIYs on December 3rd, so forgive me for the repetition but corralling a few past posts together in reasonable time this year seemed wise.)

If you missed them the first time around, here are a few of my past Christmas makes that you might like to try out…

Vintage pictures advent calendar

I think this is my very favourite Christmas thing I’ve ever made. Of course I do! It combines vintage images, iron on fabric transfer paper and chocolate. What, my friends, is not to love?!

Air dry clay Christmas tree ornaments

If your Christmas tree is lacking in polar bears, squirrels and moose (meece?) this is the place to visit. Unbelievably easy to make and you can use any biscuit cutters you have to make whatever shapes your heart (or tree) desires.

Liberty fabric baubles

Carrot and rhubarb jam

A jam that tastes like Christmas! I’m not sure if I have ever succeeded in converting anyone to this idea ever, but I shall keep on singing the praises of a sweet carrot jam full of Christmassy spices. One day in the future someone might actually give this recipe a go and find that it’s really pretty good. If you do, please let me know!

Okay, the photo is ugly and the actual post is seriously long, but I did go ahead and make most of these presents and I can recommend all of the tutorials wholeheartedly.

Secondly, and not at all popular on Pinterest, despite my attempt to make a nice Pinnable image for it, 17 more tutorials for presents. The difference? These are all from my own makes. The lobster necklace is my favourite. I still love that.

And I’d love you even more if you go and pin that image for me, ha ha.

So, there you have it. If you’re feeling festive too and starting to get ready, I hope there is some inspiration here.

And what else are you thinking of making this year? Drop me a comment below, I’d love to hear all your plans…

Struck down for the past few days with a horrible pre-Christmas lurgy, I’m just popping in to share some photos I finally got round to taking of my air dry clay Christmas tree decorations…

Hoot’s man there’s a moose, loose, about this hoose…

Now, unless mine is the only blog you read, I’m sure you will have seen variations of these at a number of different places. From bloggers who actually give you some inspiration / advice / tutorials at a relevant time so you can still go to the shops, buy the equipment, come home and make the thing before it’s far too late. Ah, not me! Even if you, too, are a late Christmas tree putter-upper, there’s still probably not enough time to start making your own ornaments now.

(And if mine is the only blog you read, thanks so much! You’re my new bestie…)

But still, I was pretty pleased with these, so I thought I’d give you a little view of my new woodland friends anyway.

Even though he’s just in silhouette, this little squirrel looks quite cheeky, I think…A Christmas snail.

I used cookie cutters bought from Ikea and just rolled out my clay (purchased from Hobbycraft a few weeks back) and then stamped them in, making a little hole at the top for the red wool.

I’m not entirely sure how sturdy these are, in all honesty. One of the moose (meece?) lost a leg and his nose on his way to be photographed. Poor guy, that’s worse than a bad hair day… So I don’t know if they’re likely to survive til next year. But, unlike the beautiful Habitat glass baubles which have not been taken out of their box this year, I won’t mind in the slightest if the sproglet tears them from the tree and dashes them to the ground…

The one surviving moose that’s not legless

Incidentally, I did try and take some photos for you of these in situ, dangling cheerily from the tree itself, but the light was all wrong, or the baubles started moving when I wanted to photograph them and, in my under-the-weather state, I got fed up pretty quickly.

And on that cheery note, a Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you’re all happy and healthy and full of seasonal cheer. I’ll be checking out now until the new year, so have wonderful Christmases one and all and a fabulous New Year’s Eve. May the start of 2014 be excellent for each and every one of you…

After my frazzled, manic late-night making sessions of last December, I decided not to go for any homemade Christmas presents this year. A rather sensible decision, for me, what with temporarily living at my Mum’s, not having access to any of my supplies or, frankly, much time or energy spare at the moment…

Craft supplies, just waiting to be turned into something wondrous…

Everyone in my family is a bit skint this year, so we all set ourselves a £15 budget per person. All well and good, I thought to myself.

But then, when I started out looking for presents, I discovered (somewhat to my horror) you can’t actually buy that much for £15. One of my sisters requested a bobble hat. I looked in various shops and, nope, I just can’t find a bobble hat for less than £15. So, hey, I might as well knit her one. It seems crazy not to.

I bought my nephew a lovely little £15 polar bear jumper from John Lewis. It’s super cute, but, hmmm, it’s a little bit boring to just give a jumper to a four-month-old, isn’t it? I’ll just whip up a couple of very small little extras to go with it.

And then there’s the tree. Non-breakable decorations are needed this year. I definitely want to make some more fabric baubles for my own tree, as well as a couple of other super simple, super quick things I’ve spotted around the place.

And then stockings. I simply must make a couple of nice things for the stockings – it is, after all, the first Christmas that the sproglet will really remember…

So, somehow, with a week to go til Christmas I’ve got a rather large list of things I want to get made and an ever-growing pile of supplies. It’s just, erm, when do I have any time to make them? Wish me luck!

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Hello hello, lovely to see you, thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm Sabrina: crafter, gardener, writer and inveterate waffler. This blog is where I share my makes, garden plans and somewhat half-arsed attempts to channel Tom and Barbara and live the Good Life in London.

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